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I am a visual artist, living and working in Amsterdam. After finishing my studies at the art-teachers department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Tilburg (NL) and working as an art-teacher for a few years, I started working as a fulltime graphic artist, specialized in the etching and monoprint techniques. Beside that I have always been a passionate collector of everything that interested me for whatever reason, with in the back of my mind the purpose to do something, sometime, somehow, with what became a huge "three-dimensional archive" in the meantime. Short after the turn of the century I decided to stop making graphic work, and to start making assemblages. Since then I have been working on building up a collection which can be seen on this site.

My studio houses, apart from the tools, furniture and equipment I need to make my assemblages, most of my very extensive and richly diversed collection of objects which provides the material for my assemblages and is also my main source of inspiration. Looking around in my studio is like looking around in my brain: it reflects my passions, hang-ups and frustrations, my lusts and my pains, my hopes and fears... So it gives you an intimate view on my personal universe but also - I think - it is a perfect metaphore of the world outside: a moreless organized chaos. Some people say my studio is ultimate work of art. This part of the site shows photographs of the work itself and details of my studio.

work

Atelier

about my work

All my works are based on re-using existing objects, mostly coming from the garbage, fleamarkets and thriftstores, and can be considered as an ongoing research for the expressive, sculptural, emotional and other hidden possibilities in the full sense of the word. By putting them in an unexpected context, or giving them another purpose than what they are made for or using them as purely sculptural elements, I try to add more dimensions to them, or give them another significance. I also try to let the fact, that every single object reflects a certain time, culture or history, play a role in my work. To cut it short: like a painter has his paint, canvas and brushes, I have my objects, materials and tools.

My assemblages come to existance through association, and often this process starts with only one part of what is going to be the final result. But it also happens frequently that I suddenly see connections between some of the things amidst which I live from day to day, and which I often have since a long time. Sometimes I am really suprised that I did not see these connections any sooner. Also coincidence plays a highly appreciated role in my work, because this stipulates what I find on my way, and which materials I consequently have at my disposal. This makes my work quite unpredictable, which is, together with the possibility to work with and combine many different materials and techniques, for me the attraction of making assemblages.